The Jealousy Of Ron Weasley
by Potters Love Redheads
Summary: Ron has always been overshadowed by his brothers and to make it worse his best friend is Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, defeater of Voldemort. Ron wants to be special so badly that he tells Harry that he wishes he was him. Ron will get to see his Harry's life behind the curtains and find out just what being Harry Potter entails.
1. Chapter 1

This is an AU story that I wanted to write. I've always wondered if Ron had ever truly gotten over his jealousy of Harry. This is my story of what could have happened if he didn't.

It starts after the war and goes back through all of the years Harry went through at Hogwarts. It will mostly stick to canon up until 3rd year. Lots of fics I've read all go through Harry's entire time at Hogwarts repeating everything we know that Rowling wrote in her books, well I won't be writing everything about what happens in the school years, just the major changes in the plotline. The first few chapters will be quite short due to this although as the plot changes I will be able to write more for each chapter with most of the major plotline changes saved for 7th year. Yes there will be Horcrux's, not sure about the hallows yet though this could be included. I am aiming for 13 chapters at least, including a chapter for each year at Hogwarts although this may change if I think chapters may be too long.

Sorry for the long intro but hope it gives you an idea of what to expect.

Hope you enjoy. Please Read and Review.

Chapter 1 – After the War

It had barely been a month since the battle of Hogwarts but life was already moving on. The school was in the middle of being rebuilt, the damage had been quite severe but Professor McGonagall, the new headmistress, was happy to announce that it would reopen in September. Diagon Alley had also begun to look transformed, from the dark and empty street it had been during the war to the bustling, noisy place it once had been. Fred and George's shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was once again so outrageously busy that no one noticed the blonde haired young man in bottle green robes and brown eyes slip by into the back. He breathed a sigh of relief as he made sure that no one had seen him, or recognised him.

"Who are you and what are doing back here?" said a voice from behind him. He smiled and turned around to see George Weasley standing behind him, his wand pointing at him.

"Is this any way to treat your silent investor and fellow marauder Fury?" At these words George grinned and flicked his wand back into its holster, walking over and pulling him into a one armed hug.

"Harry my man, your disguises are getting better. What's this, number 15?" Harry laughed waving his hand across his face getting rid of his disguise charms.

"Got to keep them guessing, if I come out as myself its madness. I went to Gringotts the other day and got crowded as I left. I had to quickly apparate away." George laughed and ruffled Harry's hair. Harry looked at him annoyed.

"Well what do you expect Harrykins, you did kill old moldyshorts and according to witch weekly one of the hottest eligible bachelors, though if my sister has anything to do about it then not not for much longer." Harry blushed. Damn that article in Witch weekly, Ginny kept bringing it up to annoy him. "I know you though Harry I'm sure you haven't just come here for small talk, what can I do for you?" Harry laughed.

"You know me too well. It's not really what you can do for me, more what I can do for you. I've been discussing my accounts with the Gringotts goblins and it would appear that I have shares in lots of companies, but also own several houses and shop premises. You once told me that if I ever had any ideas for your joke shop that I was to let you know. Well I had a really great idea that I think you might like. You see one of the premises was left by Zonko's, unfortunately the owners were killed last year. I was thinking what if you had a Hogsmead branch of WWW?" Harry finished. Throughout the time that Harry had been speaking George his mouth had opened further and further in shock. Harry laughed at seeing him gobsmacked. Right then Fred walked in yelling for his brother.

"George, oi where are you?" He looked up seeing Harry and his twin brother. "Oh hey Harry, why does my brother look like he's trying to catch flies?" Harry laughed.

"I think I broke him." As Harry spoke George broke out of his stupor and started pointing at Harry. Fred laughed.

"Yes George, he's Harry Potter," he said slowly grinning at his brother. George tried to speak, stuttering his words.

"He's … he … he owns Z.Z..Zonkos." Harry smirked as Fred turned to him.

"You own Zonko's?" He looked at Harry in a new light. "You know that's a positively Slytherin plan of yours. Trying to get the inside scoop." Harry shook his head trying not to laugh.

"What I mean to say is that I used to own Zonko's." He pulled a piece of parchment out of his robes. "This is the ownership papers for the premises in Hogsmead and if you sign it will belong entirely to you." He placed the parchment on a nearby table next to a quill and turned around to see both twins just staring at him. Quickly he pulled the camera Ginny had given him out of his other pocket and snapped a quick pic of their expressions. "Well as always it's been a pleasure boys, I have an appointment with Kingsley to get to so I'm sorry but I can't stick around. Don't forget to sign those papers guys," he finished before apparating away. The twins stood their silently until Verity called them to give her a hand. They both smiled at each other both thinking that Harry had just gotten them both as only a marauder could, and he had the evidence to prove it.

Harry was still chuckling to himself as he landed in the ministry approved apparating area. The photo he had gotten was priceless, he couldn't wait to show Padfoot and Moony knowing that they would approve. He stepped into an empty lift and stated level 1. Kingsley had owled him at the beginning of the week asking for a meeting. To say he was surprised was an understatement. He had already told Kingsley about his part in the war a week after the final battle so he was stumped as to why the minister wanted to see him so soon. Stepping out of the lift he almost bumped into Mr Weasley.

"Mr Weasley, it's good to see you," Harry said shaking his hand. Mr Weasley gave Harry a warm smile.

"How many times have I told you to call me Arthur? Mr Weasley makes me feel like I'm back at Hogwarts with McGonagall." Harry laughed, he'd been on the receiving end of McGonagall's Mr Potter for seven years.

"Sorry Arthur, it's hard to get out of the habit." Arthur nodded his head.

"Ginny wants to let you know that you're coming over for dinner tonight, no arguments, Sirius too. She keeps complaining that she hasn't seen you properly in over a week so she's giving you your orders." Harry laughed.

"Guess I'm over for dinner then." Arthur nodded.

"So I heard from Ginny that you're meeting Kingsley. Good luck with that, I'll make sure Molly knows that you're over for tea tonight." Harry nodded and waved bye to Arthur as he walked towards the secretary's desk where a blonde haired witch sat looking at paperwork and muttering to herself.

"Morning, I'm here to see the minister," he said cheerfully. The secretary didn't even bother to lift her head or acknowledge him.

"The minister has no appointments available today, please come back tomorrow." Harry tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for her to raise her head. He coughed causing her to look up at him. Seeing who stood in front of her made all the colour drain out of her face.

"Mr Potter, I am so sorry for my attitude, please forgive me. I didn't mean to be so rude." Harry held up his hand to stop her.

"Apology accepted." He gave her a brief smile. "I have an appointment with the minister." The blonde haired witch nodded.

"He told me to tell you to go straight in," she said pointing towards to the door to Kingsley office. Harry nodded his head and thanked her before entering the door into Kingsley's office. He saw Kingsley rise from his desk and offered his hand as he entered.

"Harry, it's great to see you again." Harry shook his hand smiling at the tall, dark man who stood in front of him.

"You to minister." Kingsley sat back down and gestured for Harry to sit.

"Please call me Kingsley, we've known each other long enough and gone through enough together to skip the formalities. Only people who want something from me call me minister." Harry chuckled.

"So what's going on Kingsley, why the meeting?" Harry asked curiously. Kingsley laughed,

"Always straight to the point, I like that about you Harry. I wanted to talk to you about something which could affect your future."


	2. Chapter 2

So this is the next chapter and as of yet have had no reviews :( Plenty of you have read but please let me know what you think of this story, is it good, bad or damn well unreadable? Please enjoy the next chapter as the proverbial ball is about to start rolling.

I do not own J.K Rowlings world, I just like to play in it. My bank account is unfortunately much emptier than hers would be !

Chapter 2 – The Point of No Return

Molly Weasley was in the kitchen when she heard a small pop heralding the arrival of her husband. He came in through the back door and proceeded to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"How's your day been Mollywobbles?" Molly blushed at the pet name her husband called her by.

"Relatively quiet. Ron and Ginny have been playing quidditch whilst Hermione read under the tree. She's been a bit nervous the last few days as her parents are due back soon. She's not sure how they're going to react to her." Arthur nodded, it was a difficult situation for Hermione to be in, she had done what was best for her parents so that they didn't get hurt, it didn't mean that they would agree with it though.

"There're coming back on a muggle flying machine, I believe they call it an aeroplane. I wonder if the Grangers will be able to tell me how it stays up without magic. Muggles really do come up with the most amazing things." Molly nodded her head, smiling as her husband talked about muggle artefacts again.

"Did you get a chance to talk to the boys?" she enquired. Arthur smiled.

"Yes dear, they said they would definitely be over tonight, they have something they want to tell us. Oh I almost forgot, I bumped into Harry at the ministry, he was going to see Kingsley." Molly looked up, her curiosity peaked.

"I thought he'd already talked to Kingsley?" Arthur nodded.

"He did, this was about something else. I'm sure that if he's allowed he can tell us tonight. I invited him to tea." Molly laughed.

"You mean Ginny asked you to invite him." Arthur laughed and nodded. "Ginny really misses him at the moment, they spent all that time apart last year and now that the wars over they still don't spend much time together, everyone always expects so much from him. I assume that since you invited Harry then Sirius, Remus and Tonks will be coming to?" Arthur shook his head.

"Only Sirius will be here, Remus and Tonks have taken Teddy on a late honeymoon. I met Sirius in Diagon alley and his exact words were 'how could I every say no to Molly's exquisite cooking'." He smiled as he saw his wife blush.

"That man," Molly scolded, although with a small smile on her face.

Sirius Black stood at the bottom of the stairs of Number 12 Grimmauld Place shouting up to his Godson for the umpteenth time.

"I don't think she'll care what you look like Harry, you could be wearing Dobby's tea cosy and she wouldn't even notice, come to think of it I think she'd be very interested in how you look wearing that!" He smirked to himself as he heard Harry's response of some rather choice words. Sirius had already been waiting fifteen minutes and was starting to get slightly frustrated with his Godson. A small pop behind him made him turn around.

"Does Harry Potter's Godfather require anything sir?" Sirius laughed. Dobby had appeared next to him dressed smartly in his house elf uniform with the Potter crest embroidered on the breast pocket. Dobby was staying at Potter Sanctuary at the moment, a moderate sized house with a quidditch pitch and swimming pool on the grounds. Harry had expressed a desire to move into his own place and so Dobby was making sure the house was fit to live in. The house had once belonged to his grandparents.

"Sorry Dobby, I wasn't calling you. I was just referencing your name as an incentive to get my Godson to hurry up and get ready." Dobby laughed.

"Master Harry wishes to look good for Mistress Po-Wheezy" Sirius looked strangely at Dobby, noticing the almost slipped tongue.

"Ready to go Sirius?" Harry said from the couch, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Apparating down the stairs are we now?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow, making him look like a certain potions professor. Harry laughed.

"Well you were complaining about me taking so long. I thought I'd save a few seconds."

"Can't fault you there is suppose." He did a quick once over of his Godson's appearance taking in the mess of black that was Harry's hair, untameable by even sleakeasy. He smirked as he noticed the robes that Harry wore.

"Subtle. Going to see if anyone notices?" Harry nodded. "Well come along then, there's a pretty who will have my head if I don't get you there soon!" Harry laughed and grabbed a handful of floo powder from on top the fireplace.

"The Burrow," he said and vanished. He found himself shooting out of the fireplace and tried to balance before pulling the person in front of him down on top of him landing in a heap.

"This is an unexpected way to say hello," Ginny said kissing Harry on the lips.

"If this is what happens then I'll have to do it more often," he chuckled bringing Ginny's lips to his again. He heard laughing at Sirius came out of the floo behind him and groaned.

"Oh Harry, I knew you were desperate to see her but can't you at least get a room first!"

"Yeah laugh it up Sirius," he grumbled before letting Ginny get up off him. Harry stood up and brushed himself off scowling at his Godfather.

"Watch that face Harry, the wind might change and you'll be stuck looking like Snape for the rest of your life." Harry turned away from his Godfather, ignoring him. He smiled at Ginny, glad to be able to see her again.

"Well look at what spilled out of the fireplace, it's only Mr eligible bachelor himself." Harry grimaced and turned around to see the twins. He felt Ginny place her arms around him.

"What's up, Gred and Forge?"

"We wondered if we could drag you away from our lovely sister for 5 minutes. We have some matters to discuss Pyro." Harry's eyebrows raised at the sound of his marauder name and nodded his head. He watched the boys leave the room and leaned into Ginny to give her a kiss.

"I'll continue that later," he whispered. Ginny smiled.

"I'll hold you to that."

"After you left us this morning, we went to Hogsmead, leaving Verity in charge. We looked over the premises and made loads of plans. We've been thinking about possibly expanding but actually gave us the opportunity. The only problem is that we need to find someone we can trust to run the store." Harry nodded trying to think of a solution. A mischievous grin spread across Harry's face.

"I have the perfect suggestion and you know them both very well." Both twins looked at him in confusion until realisation dawned.

"Of course…"

"…they are the …"

"…perfect choice." The twins laughed. Harry smiled. This was one way of getting Sirius out from under his feet. He winked at the boys and left spend some time with Ginny.

"Now where were we?" Harry said pulling Ginny in for a deep kiss. She giggled.

"This is pretty close." The two of them were under their favourite tree in the back garden. Ginny sat between Harry's legs, her head rested on his chest. Harry's arm was wrapped around Ginny's middle protectively whilst his other played with her hair. Ginny sighed, enjoying the moment that they could sit there together. "Harry?" He looked down to see Ginny tracing the scar on his chest. "When are we going to tell everybody? Before it was because we needed to keep it secret, but now… the war is over, everything is settling down. We're the only ones that know but soon mum's going to notice." Harry sighed. She was right, they'd be discovered soon enough and then the whole truth would come out. He ruffled his hair. He wanted to shout it out loudly for everyone to hear but he first had to face the Weasley's and that was a scary thought in itself. He kissed Ginny gently.

"Soon. Maybe next week." Ginny looked up at Harry her eyes sparkling with love.

"We could use the pensieve, it would make it easier for you." Harry nodded and kissed her again.

"What would I do without you Mrs Potter?" He kissed her neck gently. Ginny giggled.

"Crash and burn." She brought his lips down to hers, snogging heatedly for several minutes, only stopping when Molly called for tea. Harry stood up and offered his hand to Ginny pulling her into his arms gently kissing her forehead. The couple then made their way back to the house, gently holding each other's hand.

Dinner at the Burrow was always a loud and boisterous event, and today was no different Molly loved cooking for her family and with plenty to feed she was in her element. For the first part of the meal the only talking had been to 'pass the gravy' but soon talk turned to what the family members had been doing. Just before dessert the twins cleared their throats making everyone look at them.

"We have an announcement to make. A silent partner in our company has provided us with the means to expand."

"So," continued Fred. "A new Weasley Wizard Wheezes will be opening in Hogsmead in September." Molly and Arthur both congratulated their children for being successful along with back slaps and questions from the others. "But first, Sirius we have a question for you. Would you consider being one of the managers?" There was silence at the table and Sirius sat there staring at the twins before breaking out in a massive grin.

"You bet I would. Working in a joke shop would be heaven!" Everyone at the table laughed. "So when can I start?" The twins shared a grin.

"When you recruit Moony," Harry smiled watching the twins work. He was very grateful that the twins would consider Padfoot and Moony. He watched the twins banter with Sirius making everyone at the table laugh. Noticing that everyone's plate was empty he waved his hand causing all the plates to stack and levitate to the sink where they then started to wash themselves. Inwardly Harry chuckled to himself, a year ago he would never have been able to do that. He caught Molly looking at him gratefully and inclined his head, after everything she had done for him this was a mere token of the gratitude he had towards her and her family. He saw her smile and watched as her smile froze and then widen into a grin. Harry chuckled, of course Molly would be the one to recognise his robes for what they were.

"Hey mum, why are you grinning at Harry like the cat that's got the cream?" asked the twins. Molly laughed.

"I believe that Harry has his own news to tell us all, don't you Harry." Harry blushed as everyone at the table looked at him. Ginny squeezed his leg, of course she already knew, he'd told her before anyone else. Sirius sniggered as Harry blushed.

"As some of you might know I went to a meeting to talk to Kingsley today. I didn't know why he wanted me to come but when I got there he offered me an explanation. You see I wasn't the only one invited to the office, Professor McGonagall was too. As you all probably know, I wanted to become an Auror after I left school, but after defeating Voldemort I no longer wanted to fight. I wanted to do something else. Kingsley and McGonagall had discussed that she needed a new DADA professor in September and offered the Auror training instructor, Anderson on a temporary basis until the new DADA Professor passes his teaching exams." He saw Hermione look at him.

"It's you isn't it. You're going to be training to be the DADA Professor." Harry nodded.

"I'm going to be taking Anderson's place as the Auror instructor for 2 years, this will act as my teacher training and then I have to take some exams in between but afterwards I'll be allowed to teach and McGonagall has confirmed that after I pass my training the position at Hogwarts is mine." There was a stunned silence before Fred and George both whistled.

"We learnt more in the DA…"

"…than we ever learnt…"

"…with any of the other…"

"…professors." The twins finished. He could see Hermione nodding too.

"There're right Harry, when you were teaching the DA you were a force to be reckoned with, you planned lessons, you were good with the younger years and never treated anyone differently. I always saw this look on your face after a lesson, it's a bit like the look you get when you're flying, and it's something you love to do. I think you'll be a great Professor Harry," Hermione finished. Around the table there were nods of confirmation all except from his best mate who was purposefully looking away from Harry. He felt a pang of sadness in the fact that Ron couldn't be happy for him. He made himself look away from Ron as Molly gave him a big hug whilst the twins slapped him on the back. He looked at Sirius who winked at him. He knew that Sirius was proud of him even if he was breaking marauder law by becoming a part of the enemy. He smiled a bit at that. After all the congratulations Molly asked Harry when he would start.

"Not until September. I wanted to spend some time with the family and friends to relax. Kingsley actually order me to not go getting into trouble for the next 3 months. Talking about September I happen to have two Hogwarts letters here for the two returning students, I also have the NEWTs schedule for you Ginny." At the sound of Hogwarts letters Hermione squealed and rushed round to Harry to get hers making everyone laugh. Harry levitated Ron's letter in front of him where it was left unopened. Molly and Arthur were looking at the NEWTs schedule with Ginny.

"I'm head girl!"Shouted Hermione, holding out a red badge with HG on it. Harry and Ginny laughed.

"Who else was it going to be Hermione, and this year you won't have to worry about getting killed or worse expelled." Hermione laughed as she remember the time that she had said that in their first year. She looked over to Ron who looked anything but happy, his unopened Hogwarts letter in front of him. Molly saw the look on her son's face and frowned at him.

"Ron, why haven't you opened your letter yet?" Ron mumbled something deliberately looking away from his mum. "We've already had this conversation ten times already Ronald, you don't have any plans, no money. You have to go back to Hogwarts, were not having this argument again." Ron looked angrily up at his mum.

"But that's not fair, you never made the twins finish, and what about Harry, he doesn't have his NEWTs either." At the mention of his name Harry felt slightly guilty, there were some things that Ron just didn't know. He watched as the argument between mother and son continued.

"This has nothing to do with them. The twins already had plans laid out when they left the school, I may not have been happy about it at the time but they are successful and they love what they do."

"What about Harry?" Ron demanded. Molly sighed.

"I am not Harry's guardian so I cannot tell him what he can and can't do. He already has job lined up for him doing something that he loves and he is willing to work hard for it. I cannot fault him there. You Ron have no place to go so you must go back to Hogwarts. Didn't you say you wanted to be an Auror or a quidditch player, if you don't go back you won't be able to be either. I'm sorry Ron but that's my final word on the subject." Ron looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him. He was looking between his mum and Harry before stomping out of the kitchen and upstairs. Molly had a furious look on her face and made to go after Ron but Harry stopped her.

"Let me talk to him," she nodded and sat back down. Harry looked at both Hermione and Ginny, nodding his head before holding four fingers on his leg. Hermione looked at him sadly whilst Ginny stood up and gave him a kiss letting him know that they understood. He gave a brief smile before heading in the direction of Ron's room. He opened the door to see Ron lying on his Chudley Cannon's bed, scowling at the ceiling. "What's going on Ron? What's with all the attitude towards your mum?"

"She doesn't get it and neither do you. You get whatever you want, my brothers they get away with everything, but not me, not Ron Weasley. He's just the sidekick. Well I'm sick of being the sidekick. I've done just as much as you have but does anyone acknowledge that? No. You're the one offered a job, I get a stinking medal and then forgotten. I bet you didn't even ask Kingsley about me being an Auror, did you?"

"It's not like that Ron, I did ask but he said you would need your NEWTs to qualify. He said to apply then." Ron glared at him.

"So for me to become an Auror I have to sit my NEWTs but for you to teach where you need more NEWTs than any other job around you can get in for free. Just because you killed You-Know-Who doesn't mean you should get everything handed on a silver platter. Apparently murder is the equivalent of Outstanding NEWTs now?" Harry took a step back from Ron, feeling slightly sickened by Ron's accusations.

"Ron you're being totally stupid."

"Yeah that's me, Harry Potter's stupid best friend. I swear nothing is straight forward with you yet everything falls straight into your lap."

"You know that's not true Ron. When has my life ever been normal, or fun or safe? I have lived my life in danger since the day I was born, never wanting any of this stupid fame!"

"That's a lie right there. All that bollocks about not wanting fame but then you use it to get anything you want right? You don't deserve to be treated better than everyone else who was a part of the war, just because of a stupid prophecy. I know everything about you Harry so you can't lie to me, your life is just perfect whilst mine sucks."

"You call having no parents, and having to live with my psychotic relatives whilst also trying to survive the most evil wizard to walk this earth a perfect life? There has got to be something wrong with you. Who would want my life?"

"Me." Shouted Ron. Harry stared at him as Ron continued to rant on. How could anyone want his life? Sure it was great now, he was in love, the world was at peace but his life had never been easy, not the way that Ron thought it was. He had worked so hard throughout his entire life, be it on his grades or in his quest to destroy Voldemort. If he'd worked any less he hated to think what could have happened. Ron was still going on about how much better he would have been as Harry Potter and he had to laugh, in all honesty Ron probably wouldn't last past second year. He sighed as he flicked his wrist causing his wand to come out of its holster and into his hand. He really didn't want to do this but Ron was really asking for it. He thought back to how the spell worked. It would connect the two of them, playing out his entire life for Ron to see, nothing would remain secret. He could only block certain memories and he had to choose them before he started the spell. He closed his eyes thinking about the previous march, it would not do for Ron to see that. Once concealed he opened his eyes again and concentrated. He knew that reliving his entire life would be painful, but it was something he was willing to do if it could bring his friend back to him. He pointed his wand at Ron and spoke the incantation.

"Veritas Vitae Particeps." Ron looked up quickly but it was too late. A white light surrounded the two friends and then darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Well here's the next chapter for all you lovely people. I must say that the amazing reviews I received have made my imagination drive go into top gear. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as I found it harder to write, this is the first time I've ever wrote scenes with Lily and James so pleahse let me know if I've done a good job or not! Please read and review, the more reviews the better I write :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Wizarding World, that honour belongs with J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 3 - Back To Where It Began

Saturday October 31st 1981 – 8.30pm

He stirred. He felt so warm but also hungry. He could hear the soft familiar humming of his mother as she worked in the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before opening his eyes fully. He saw slightly blurred movement to his right and sat up.

"Look whose awake then," came the low but gentle voice of his father coming from above him. Harry looked up and saw the slightly blurred figure of his dad, he could see the jet black hair which was just like his and the glasses on his father's face that he like to try and take off. He felt his father pick him up out of the playpen and kiss his head.

"I think your spending far too much time with Padfoot, he always wakes up just before the food is ready too." Harry giggled.

"Where Pafoo?" His father shook his head in defeat.

"I regret letting Sirius teach him that, my kid loves a mutt better than his own dad." He sighed. Harry heard his mother laugh and come into the front room

"Harry loves you very much, he loves his uncles too. He has loads of love to give." Lily told James giving him a quick peck on the cheek. James sighed.

"He doesn't like all of his uncles." Lily looked at him puzzled. "Yesterday he wanted to see Moony and Padfoot but when I asked about Peter he told me he didn't like him." Lily frowned.

"But Harry loves everyone, even that heap of dung Fletcher." James nodded his head.

"Yeah I know, it's odd. It does explain why I keep finding his stuffed rat in the bin. He must be using magic to get it in there because he can't reach to open it." Lily nodded.

"Harry, can you tell me why you don't like uncle Wormtail?"Lily asked. Harry scrunched up his nose as if he had smelt something bad.

"Wormy bad. Not nice." He said

"Why is he a bad man Harry?" his father asked. Harry shrugged his shoulders continued to play with his stuffed dog, wolf and stag. He knew what they were cause his father told him lots of stories about them playing in the moonlight. He could hear his parents talking quietly to each other.

"You know he always cried when Peter held him, I thought it was just he was inexperienced with kids but maybe not," Lily said slowly. James looked at her.

"What are you thinking?"

"Remember that time at the Order meeting in July and it turned out that Emmeline Vance was being impersonated by a death eater with polyjuice and we didn't know until after the meeting." James nodded. "Well don't you remember how Harry acted when she spoke to him?" James sat there in thought, remembering what had happened at the meeting.

"Yeah he started crying and mumbling about a bad person. His speech wasn't so good back then but we thought he was just coming down with something so we left early. You don't think that he knew do you?" Lily nodded. "And you think the reason he acts like he does about Peter is because he's a … no it's not possible, none of the marauders would go anywhere near Voldemort…would he… could he?" James started questioning himself. Lily gave her husband a hug to calm him down.

"We may be overreacting or we just might have found the spy that Albus has been looking for." At these words James looked up at Lily.

"We all thought it might be Remus, why would we think that? He's our friend and we don't even trust him. How is that possible?" Lily held her distraught husband.

"I don't know, we all just assumed it was Remus. You don't think, you know that we've been confounded to believe that Remus is the spy?" James looked up at her.

"But who would do that, what has Remus ever done to anyone?"

"Nothing but he would be the obvious choice as most people believe werewolf's to be dangerous creatures." James laughed.

"Moony isn't dangerous, he just has a furry little problem. You really think Wormy could be with him?"

"I don't know, but I can't help but think that Harry knows something we don't." James nodded. "I think we should write to Dumbledore and explain about the switch, I also want to go to Sirius's for tonight, if Peter really is the spy he could give us away at any time. I don't want to lose Harry." James nodded and kissed her cheek. "I'm probably overreacting but I got this bad feeling. I'll write to Dumbledore and you keep Harry entertained until were ready to go."

Harry looked up to see that his parents had finished their conversation and his father was now coming to play with him. He hadn't understood any of what they had said but the bad man's name had come up. He really didn't like the bad man, he smelt funny and made his tummy fell all horrible. He picked up his wolf and made him howl.

"Yes Moony howls, you know he's very noisy when he howls." Harry laughed and put his arms up.

"Fy daddy, I want to Fy!" He saw his father put his wand down on the sofa and pick him up.

"Oh so you want to fly hey." Harry giggled he loved flying, it was so fun!

"Faster Daddy!" James laughed at his son's giggling.

"If he's sick you can clear it up dear." At this James put Harry down.

"I think I'm in trouble with mummy," he whispered to Harry. "Go give your mum a big hug." Harry smiled and ran into the kitchen where his mummy sat writing a letter. Lily looked up and seeing her son, grinned.

"What's this? Sending the cute boy first to judge my temper? Have you no shame Mr Potter." She bent down and picked up Harry, kissing his cheek. "I finished the letter for Dumbledore, is Artemis around I want to send it before we leave." There was no answer from her husband. "James what are doing, I swear if I have to …"

"LILY, TAKE HARRY AND GO! IT'S HIM! GO! RUN! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!" Lily burst through the kitchen door running up the stairs two at a time when she heard the front door blasted open. Tears were falling down her face as she knew that in moments time her husband would be dead and the monster responsible would be coming after her next. As she closed the door to the nursery she heard the words to the most hated curse spoken. Her tears threatened to blind her as she dashed to get the port key that had been made for situations just like this. A baby rattle. She held it and said the activation words. Nothing happened. Shit. Shit. Peter knew about the port key, they must have put anti-port key wards up. There was nothing she could do, she couldn't fight all she could do was die protecting her son.

Harry looked up at his mother trying not to cry. He was so frightened, and he could feel how frightened his mother was too, she was upset because daddy wasn't here and because the bad man had hurt them. Lily put Harry in his cot and slid down the floor in front of it, openly crying.

"I love you so much Harry. Your daddy loves you and I love you. I love you so much, with my whole heart."

"I wub you to mummy," Harry said starting to cry to. The next instant the bedroom door was blasted open and Lily stood up in front of him. Through the open door came a monster. Harry whimpered and tried to hide.

"Stand aside you silly girl," the evil man sneered.

"NOT HARRY, PLEASE NO, TAKE ME, KILL ME INSTEAD –"

"This is my last warning-"

"NOT HARRY! PLEASE … HAVE MERCY …NOT HARRY PLEASE – I'LL DO ANYTHING…"

"Avada Kedavra." Lily fell as if in slow motion beside Harry's cot, her unmoving form lying there still and unblemished. Harry started to cry. The monster had hurt his daddy and now his mummy. He stared at the evil monster with tears falling down his cheeks into the red eyes of Lord Voldemort. At the same time as Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry and said "Avada Kedavra," little Harry quietly mumbled that he loved his mummy and daddy very much, knowing that they loved him too. A flash of green light hit a flash of white and Harry felt pain in his head and knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

So here I am with the next chapter! Hooray! But first I am going to answer some reviews 

**sbmcneil - Thanks for the review. From what I can tell a wizarding baby matures a lot quicker than a normal baby. From a lot of what I have read they have Harry doing lots of bouts of accidental magic at his young age.**

**madnessdownunder2 - It is true that they are legal in both magical and the mundane world however Ron has no plans, no money and prospects of a job and expects to live at the burrow. Molly does not want her youngest son just sitting around the burrow doing nothing and living off his parents, so basically she told him that he can go back to school or not live under her roof.**

**Johnny boy - My first draft of the story did in fact have Ron's thoughts about Harry's life being included but I found that it made everything very confusing. First you had what was happening, then Harrys feelings and thoughts and then on top of that Ron's feelings and thoughts. I found it difficult to write like that so I rethought my ideas.**

Thankyou for all your reviews. We've passed the 1000 read mark yay! Hope you enjoy this next chapter please read and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in any shape or form . 

Chapter 4 – The Dursley's 

Life at the normal looking house of the Dursley's, number four Privet Drive had not been good for Harry. For as long as he could remember they had made his life miserable, a living hell. If you looked around the house though you would never find any evidence of him being there. There were no pictures of him anywhere, not that he'd want to be included in the Dursley's photos, and Dudley was large enough for the both of them. No, his Aunt had always said that he was too much of an eyesore with his untameable hair, not to mention the lightning bolt scar hidden beneath his bangs, which Harry thought was a bit unfair, after all Dudley was like a pig in a wig and no one should have to look at that!

One of Harry's first questions to his aunt had been where his scar came from. She had answered quickly with disdain 'from the car crash that killed your parents' and that was that. He'd never got any more information about his parents, he didn't even know what they looked like. He'd soon learnt not to ask questions, or argue with his uncle. The first time he had uncle Vernon had slapped his face really hard, locking him in his cupboard for the weekend. That had been when he was three and he had now learnt that his crying was ignored. He hated being locked in his cupboard for extended periods of time but he also thought of it now as a sanctuary of some sort. A place he could go to remove the Dursley's from his sight, though not out of earshot, uncle Vernon always spoke loudly making sure no one didn't hear his comments, they were normally about how great of a son Dudley was and complaining about customers at work.

Today was the thirty first of July, his birthday. He was 6 today. He knew the Dursley's never celebrated his birthday like they did Dudley's, plus they never even told him when his birthday was he'd found out himself by looking on the class registration at school. For a six year old Harry could read exceptionally well, this could be due to the fact that whenever Dudley got given books he never read them, he stashed them in his second bedroom where Harry would then pinch them, making sure to return them when finished.

Harry's thoughts returned to the hot drinks that he was preparing, he didn't want to scold himself with the hot water because he wasn't paying attention. He finished the three cups of tea and carefully placed them on the tray. It wouldn't do to break aunt Petunias best china which was mainly reserved for guests, in this case Aunt Marge, uncle Vernon's sister. He walked carefully with the tray to the garden putting it onto the new expensive garden table where the three adults were sitting under the shade of the parasol. Dudley was not here, he was most likely playing on his new Atari game station that had been brought for his birthday. Harry was surprised that it had lasted this long, his last one had been kicked out of the window.

He handed each cup and saucer to his relatives, starting with Aunt Marge as she was the guest. She was the most unpleasant women he had ever met and he despised her. He hated when she came to visit, which was about this time every year. She would stay for a week and in that time made Harry life even more miserable than it already was. What made it worse was that where Aunt Marge went, so did Ripper. Ripper was one of Aunt Marge's bulldogs that she bred. Now Harry was an animal lover, cats, dogs he loved them, but Ripper was entirely different. Ripper was evil. The first time he'd tried to pet the small dog his hand had been nearly ripped off. Harry looked at Ripper with clear dislike. He'd like to give Ripper a good kick. He looked back at Aunt Marge who was making her usual snide comments about him.

"Took your time boy," she sniped. Harry bit his lip with indignation, he didn't want to backchat her, it would be a big mistake. "It's good to see the little runt helping with the chores around the house, he needs to work for his keep. I don't know how you do it Petunia dear, if he was dropped on my doorstep he'd go straight to the orphanage where all the unwanted misfits go. He'd fit right in." Aunt Petunia nodded her head before waving Harry away. Harry was more than happy to leave until, when stepping backwards he heard a loud yelp. The colour drained out of his face. 'Oh no! Not Ripper' he thought. He could see the anger in Aunt Marge's face as she checked Rippers tail.

"How dare you stand on rippy-poo's tail! Oh if I had my cane right now I'd hit you to kingdom come," she shouted, specks of spittle flying out her mouth in her anger. Harry instinctively flinched at the threat. What was she going to do with him, he fought the urge to run, and if he ran it normally made the punishment he received much worse. He watched as she put Ripper back down on the ground. "Teach that boy a lesson Ripper."

'Not Ripper!' Harry thought. He'd eat him that was for sure. He panicked and started to back away from the already growling dog. He looked around spotting a tree that he could climb, if he could just reach there before Ripper got him. He started to run, Ripper on his heels barking madly. Reaching the tree Harry quickly pulled himself up out of reach of Ripper's jaw. He heard the adult's laughter and brought his knees to his chest, watching as Ripper prowled around the bottom of the tree like on guard duty. He wondered how long he'd be up there for.

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Harry Potter was now ten years old, nearly eleven but his life had not gotten any better than it had been when he was six. In fact it had gotten worse. As he got gotten older his Uncle had beat him more and more, using him as a punch bag for all his problems. Of course all the bruises were in places not usually seen like on his torso or legs to avoid any accusations. Then there was the fact that he was now forced to cook breakfast every morning and all the chores around the house after he returned from school. With all the rubbish in his life no one would blame him to lash out at his relatives in times of stress but Harry didn't. For all that he had gone through he was still a caring, smart boy. He put this mainly down to being able to get away from his relatives during the day. There was still Dudley to deal with but they would not ever go into the library, and that was where Harry spent most of his time during breaks. He hid away from Dudley's game of 'Harry Hunting', but also to get away from the cruel remarks of his fellow class mates. He much preferred his own company anyway, steeling himself over the years of rejection. The amount of time Harry spent in the library had made him much smarter than Dudley (not a hard feat!) but had gotten him punished by his Aunt and Uncle for apparently cheating, they believing that there was no possible way for him to know more than their darling son. He learned that day that no one would ever accept him as he was, he was a freak that should have died in the car crash with his parents. There were many times where Harry had wished this to be true, if he had died he wouldn't have to go through so much pain and he could be with the parents who loved him, not the relatives that despised him. And then there were the nightmares he constantly had, consisting of a cruel laugh and a flash of green light. He always awoke from these dreams in a cold sweat and then because he didn't want to return to sleep would read the books he had smuggled into his cupboard from the school library. He rarely had more than five hours sleep every night. If he thought the dreams were odd it was nothing compared to what else unexplainable had happened in his life. Once Aunt Petunia had cut off all his hair in a fit of rage only for it to have all grown back, exactly as it was before by the next morning. Another time he had been running from Dudley and his gang, somehow ending up on top of the school roof. None of his explanations had been believed and the punishment from his Uncle had been truly severe. But that was nothing compared to what had happened on Dudley's birthday. Somehow he had managed to set a snake on his cousin and friend Piers Polkiss on the trip to the zoo. He'd tried to explain to his Uncle that he was not responsible but again he had not been believed. He had finally been let out of his cupboard today, the start of the summer holidays. He already wished he was back in his cupboard. He'd had to see Dudley parade around the house in his Smelting's Uniform, he looked like a right pompous idiot he thought smiling to himself. He was glad he didn't have to wear that! He finished serving breakfast and was ordered to go get the post. He sighed, and did as he was told.

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He couldn't believe how lucky he was. He was finally getting away from the Dursley's, well ok so it was only for the school term but he didn't have to come back here until next summer holidays which, in his mind was the best news he had ever received. Since he'd arrived back from Diagon Alley with Hagrid, the Dursley's had kept away from him and Harry was more than happy with the arrangement. He had started to read his school books almost immediately, greedy for more knowledge about the wizarding world. He found them all immensely interesting, especially the potions one. It sounded just like cooking and that was something he knew he was good at.

He paused his reading to stroke his new friend and familiar Hedwig. He was very fond of his new owl as she was his first birthday present given to him by Hagrid. He was also very fond of Hagrid. The large man had been kind to him, telling him all about the wizarding world and he had also learnt some more information on his parents. He was glad that they were brave and caring, the descriptions Hagrid had given him were more than he could ever have expected. Hedwig nipped his finger affectionately and Harry looked back down at the book he was reading. Whilst in Flourish and Blotts he had managed to persuade Hagrid to let him buy some extra books so that he knew what to look forward to in the wizarding world. So Harry was now the proud owner of Quidditch Through The Ages, Hogwarts A History and An Introduction To The Magical World. Harry had been most excited to reach about Quidditch as it sounded very interesting, also Hagrid had told him his father had been a great player. At the moment he was reading Hogwarts A History by Bathilda Bagshot. The book was very interesting, explaining a lot about how the school was run, like the housing system. It also told a lot about how the school had been founded by four powerful wizards a long time ago. He smiled as he turned the page, he couldn't wait to get there.


	5. Chapter 5

Yay. Over two thousand reads! I have realised that I tend to update on a Tuesday so from here on I will aim to always update on a weekly basis on Tuesday. Thanks for the reviews . 

**Lilykees - Thanks , and please do keep reading! And yes hopefully Ron will take Harry and Ginny's announcement well, but he's well, Ron. You can never tell how he's going to react!**

**SinOfDisaster - I do put it into paragraphs when writing, but then when I copy and paste onto the site it screws it all up. Promise to try to sort this out.**

**thatperfectsomeone - Thanks. The story is mostly based on the books, with maybe a few ideas from the films. You won't find out Ron's thoughts and feelings until the end.**

So here is where your going to start to see some differences, remember this is AU! They are small at first, getting much more bigger as the years go on. This chapter is mainly the starting point from where Harry will change. This is not a superHarry fic, it's just a smarter version of himself, he's always been powerful, remember what Olivander said! In all aspects or from Ron/Hermione's point of view, most things that happened in the books/films actually happened. This story just goes deeper by showing what else happened, that Harry kept secrets. His Slytherin side showing through with his cunningness maybe? Or maybe his deep sense of loyalty and friendship from Gryffindor? Read and review!

p.s - events that take place in the Hogwarts years will still take place, only if there are major changes will I write them though, after all J.K wrote them well enough already, they don't need to be rewritten!

Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 5 – Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Harry sat on the train and breathed a sigh of relief, he was really going to Hogwarts. He looked out of the window and saw the red haired family. He smiled. They had all been so nice and helpful to him and they didn't even know him. He saw the small girl, Ginny. She saw him and waved. He blushed and waved back before sinking back in his seat. He ran his hands through his hair trying to get it to stop sticking up. He heard a group of girls discussing what the sorting might entail as they moved to find a compartment.

"I heard we have to fight a troll," one of the girls said. Harry laughed as he watched the girls move along. It was an interesting theory but not true. In Hogwarts A History it tells that the sorting was done by the sorting hat, an imprint left behind by Godric Gryfindor. He looked up as the compartment door was opened, it was the youngest son of the red-haired family.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked pointing to the other seat opposite him. "Everywhere else is full." Harry shook his head and gestured for him to sit. "Thanks. I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," Ron said holding out his hand. Harry grasped it.

"Harry Potter." Ron nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"Guess the twins weren't lying then. Do you, do you have the … you know… scar?" Harry grinned at Ron's inquisitiveness and pulled back his bangs. "Wow!" Ron looked impressed staring at Harry. Harry squirmed a little bit, not used to being looked at. He sighed. Just one more thing to get used to.

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Harry slouched back full from the various sweets and chocolates that he had just eaten. He couldn't remember tasting anything quite as nice as a chocolate frog. He had just gotten settled when there was a knock on the compartment door. A round faced boy entered looking tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "But have you seen a toad at all?" Both he and Ron shook their heads. The boy wailed "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" Harry saw Ron shake him head and he looked at the boy kindly.

"What's the toad's name?" The boy sniffed.

"Trevor." Harry nodded. He remembered from his reading a summoning spell which he could use. He had not done any magic so far so here was his chance to try it out.

"Ok…" he looked at the boy.

"Neville," the boy supplied.

"Ok Neville. I think I know a way that we can find Trevor. It's a spell so I don't know if it's going to work, but it's worth a try." Neville nodded in response. Seeing that Neville agreed Harry pulled out his wand and nervously cleared his throat. He pictured a toad in his mind. "Accio Trevor." A moments silence followed and still no Trevor appeared. So much for beginners luck he thought. He looked over to Neville with an apologetic look on his face and was about to say sorry when a small object zoomed through the open compartment door and onto his lap.

"Trevor!" shouted Neville. Harry grinned and passed Neville his toad.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Harry said excitedly. The other two boys looked at Harry in awe. That was until a bossy voice came from behind them.

"You're not allowed to do magic on the train." The three boys swung their heads around to see a girl with very bushy hair standing in the door of their compartment. "I see you found your toad, you could have at least come and told me, I've been searching everywhere." Neville looked at her guiltily.

"He just got it back, he didn't have time to tell you before you got here," Harry told the girl.

She looked at him and gave him a piercing stare.

"I didn't ask for your opinion. By the way how does a first year manage a fourth year summoning spell?" Both Ron and Neville turned their heads to Harry, eyes widening. He shook his head.

"I didn't know it was a fourth year spell, I heard some people talking about it a couple compartments down, it was probably a fluke that it worked," he lied. Of course he knew what year the spell came from, he'd brought all 7 standard book of spells by Miranda Goshawk by owl order after finishing the first one. He had been surprised that it had worked first time though, he hadn't expected that. He saw the girl look exceedingly happy when she heard him say that it was probably a fluke, she obviously wanted to be the best. She would probably get sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Well I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?" she asked them, apart from Neville who she already knew.

"Ron, Ron Weasley," he heard Ron say. He saw Hermione nod her head and then saw her look at him.

"Harry Potter." He watched her eyes widen in surprise.

"I've read all about you, you're in _Modern Magical History_, _The Rise and Fall of The Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding events of the twentieth century._" She said quickly. Harry scowled. He'd read them all and none of them had any true fact, only speculation about what had happened. He was the only one who had survived and he didn't even remember what had happened so how some stupid author! He quickly hid the scowl and looked up at Hermione quizzically.

"Am I?" Hermione nodded and went on to say something else when she was rudely interrupted by three boys. Harry recognised the middle one from Madame Malkins.

"So it's true, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. These are Crabbe and Goyle," pointing at the two heavily built boys beside him, standing like bodyguards. "And my names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He heard Ron snigger. "Think my names funny do you? Well there's no need for an introduction to you, red hair and a hand me down robe, you must be a Weasley, oh look the Longbottom squib has managed to get into Hogwarts. I hear your Gran had to bribe Dumbledore to take you." At these words Neville looked down, his eyes watering. "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, I can help you there." He held out his hand in front of Harry. Inwardly Harry was seething. How dare this pompous idiot insult his new friends like that? He looked directly into Malfoys eyes coldly.

"I think I can tell for myself thanks, after all you did just barge into our carriage, interrupt our conversation and then go on to insult the people I have been getting to know. I mean if that's how you were brought up, to be rude and arrogant then I'd rather not get to know you." He pointed his wand at Malfoy whose face had considerably paled. "I think it's time you leave," he waved them away using his wand in the hope that it would scare them.

"You've made a grave mistake Potter," Draco snarled as he stalked off, his bodyguards in tow. As soon as he was gone Ron started laughing.

"Did you see his face when you told him to shove it?" Harry smiled and looked over at Neville who still looked upset.

"Hey Neville don't listen to him, he's not worth it." He saw Neville nod. He looked back at Hermione who was still standing in the doorway. "Are you ok?" he asked her. He saw her sniff.

"I'm fine. By the way you should start to put your robes on, were nearly there," before stalking off.

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Harry crashed into his dorm, throwing his bag across the room before falling onto his bed with a groan. He was so angry… at himself. After all those years of neglect and bullying how did he ever, even for a second believe that being here, at Hogwarts would be any different?

Only two weeks had passed since he first entered into the great hall where all the first years were to be sorted. Happily he had been sorted into Gryffindor. The hat had told him he was suited for any house but Gryffindor would be the best place for its heir. He had questioned the hat about it but all he was told was that he wasn't ready and he would be given more information when he was. He loved the common room in the Gryffindor colours of scarlet and gold, he felt more at home here than he'd ever felt at the Dursley's. He loved magic, he loved the freedom and he loved the fact that he finally actually had friends. However in those two weeks things had defiantly not lived up to what Harry had hoped.

First there was defence against the dark arts taught by Professor Quirrel. They were a joke. Quirrel couldn't teach them anything without stuttering through his sentences and looking scared at the mention of any dark creatures, he also always smelled of garlic. Rumour was it kept away the vampires he crossed in Albania.

Then there was potions. Snape. Greasy haired, evil git, bat of the dungeon. He didn't even know the man and yet there seemed to be a hatred towards him, more so than the rest of the students. He'd only taken one look at him and embarrassed him about his celebrity status. And that wasn't the worst thing that had happened that first lesson. No, he had to ask those stupid questions, which he actually answered correctly by the way as all answers were in _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungus._ No Snape had the cheek to accuse him of cheating. Apparently Hermione was whispering him the answers. Not bloody likely. Stupid bat. He actually liked potions, he'd read through his potions book many times, jotting down what interactions each ingredient caused. He didn't like the potions master.

You would think that it couldn't get worse than Snape, but for Harry it was his worst fears come true. He thought that when he got to Hogwarts there would be no more need for hiding his ability to work well, how he found lessons easy. No more pretending to be dumb. He rolled over and punched his pillow. Life was unfair. He either was good at his lessons, or he would lose the first friendship he had ever had.

First it had been Hermione, he knew from the experience on the train that she didn't like anyone being better than her. He hadn't even thought about it until their first transfiguration lesson. He had easily turned his match into a needle, first time. To say that he was shocked was one thing. To say that Hermione was annoyed was another. She wasn't just annoyed, she was frantic. She had badgered him about it after the class asking what he did differently to everyone else. Once he told her that he'd just done what McGonagall had told them she walked off in a huff, not speaking to him for the rest of the day. It had annoyed him to no end and so next morning after dealing with her frantic reading of her transfiguration book he had told her it was a fluke. He lied and told her he tried it again and it hadn't worked. She calmed down pretty quick after that.

Today it had been Ron. Ron had introduced him to wizard's chess and they had been playing in the common room. According to the twins Ron was unbeatable, so Harry let him believe he was a beginner and thoroughly thrashed him three times in a row. He never imagined that Ron would sulk about losing. For Christ sakes, it was a game of chess. He had kept throwing dark looks at him until he'd finally had enough and asked the twins for help. They both knew how jealous their brother could be and so promised Harry to come up with a good excuse. An hour later the twins had been able to convince Ron that he had been trying out a spell for them so that he always won. Ron had accepted the story and they had played a few more games, Harry letting Ron win every time.

He turned onto his back, staring up at the canopy of his bed. He still wanted to learn but how was he able to if he couldn't do it around his friends. He knew Ron hated reading, and if Hermione caught him reading she would be suspicious. He needed to come up with a plan of attack.

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It was the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts now. Harry couldn't believe how much had happened in the last few months. He'd managed to make the quidditch team, meet fluffy the three headed dog, help defeat a troll and win his first ever quidditch match against Slytherin. Both Hermione and Ron had become fast friends with him which he was very glad of. His habit of reading after everyone in the dorm was asleep had not been noticed yet, which Harry was very grateful for, he would never have heard the end of it from Ron. Although now he had the invisibility cloak he found it much easier. After his fiasco with the mirror of erised he had decided that Dumbledore was correct and that it was no good to dwell on dreams of what could have been, so now here he was being more productive for the future by looking in the library using the lumos spell. This time he wasn't in the forbidden section.

He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten who Nicholas Flamel was. He knew he had recognised the name from somewhere but it had not been until tonight when he had remembered. Flamel was a celebrated alchemist, he was only mentioned in almost every alchemy book, and some said that he was the founding father of alchemy.

He was skimming the section of books on alchemy when he pulled out a rather large and heavy book off the shelf. It looked old. The title was _Alchemy: At its Best. _He felt hope run through him, maybe this book would contain the information he wanted. He quickly ran his finger down the contents page searching for Flamel. He quickly found what he was looking for and turned to the page. As he read the page his eyes widened. Of course, this explained everything. The school was hiding the Philosophers stone, no wonder Snape was after it.

He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf, noticing that the second copy was missing. His mind racing he quickly made his way to Madame Pince's desk to look at the checkout list. He remembered seeing Hermione check out a book that was about the right size before she went home for Christmas. He smiled, she did have it. This made things easier for him, all he needed now was a way to get Hermione to think of the book. Of course, Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, Flamel was mentioned on it was his work on alchemy. He'd innocently read the card and she'd know what to do. He smirked, everything was falling into place.

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"So if we use this potion and then complete the spell, it will last all day instead of a few minutes?" Harry nodded at the twins who grinned mischievously at him.

"Excellent work Harrykins." Harry nodded his head.

"Don't forget, don't let anyone know that I'm helping you. Might get asked awkward questions if they knew I brewed the potion." The twins nodded and hurried away. Harry smiled and made his way over to his usual seat next to the fire. The months since Christmas had gone extremely fast. Hermione had caught on about Nicholas Flamel, they'd helped Hagrid get rid of his pet dragon Norbert, getting themselves detention. They had gotten caught by Filch when coming down from the tower forgetting that they hadn't put the invisibility cloak back on. Poor Neville had been caught too and so all three, plus Malfoy had made a trip to the forbidden forest looking for the injured unicorn. It was here that he had found out that Voldemort was waiting in the forest for the Philosophers stone.

He, Ron and Hermione had gone down the trapdoor to stop Snape, only for Harry to find out at the end that it in fact was Quirrel who was after the stone. He was being possessed by Voldemort. Harry had managed to stop him from getting it as Voldemort was unable to touch him due to his mother's sacrifice. He'd only been allowed out of the hospital wing yesterday for the leaving feast.

He sighed. It had been a busy year, alongside trying to stop Voldemort he had perfected his night time studying. It consisted of his invisibility cloak, a silencing charm around his bed and a lumos spell for light. In this way he had managed to read his way through all of his school books up to fourth year and some of the library, particularly ancient runes and Arithmancy. He had also become quite close to Fred and George, becoming their secret participator for their pranks. He'd also discovered a handy little charm to hide his real marks from Hermione. She annoyingly always wanted to know what everyone had gotten on their homework, comparing grades. He had managed to hold her off until he had found the small charm. It quickly changed the grade to one that Hermione would believe. He smiled to himself, even with the events of the last year, Hogwarts had wormed its way into his heart. He felt comfortably at home here. His smile faltered at the thought that now the school term was over he had to go back to the Dursley's. Dumbledore had told him it was the safest place for him to be, that Voldemort would never find him there. That was all Harry needed to have a quick look in the library. He found what he was looking for. The only thing that made sense would be that there were blood wards around the house. As long as he considered Privet Drive to be home the wards would stay up. He supposed it was, there was nowhere else to go, for now.

He looked up to see that his two best friends were coming down the stairs from the dorms, it would soon be time to go to the Hogwarts express.


	6. Chapter 6

So as promised here is the next chapter. The change in storyline has made some of the chapters very long so I'm probably going to start splitting them up into smaller chunks, starting here.

So far I have written up to the summer before third year, which is where the major changes begin to appear. Something to look forward to!

Thanks for all the lovely reviews. They make me want to write for you guys. So please R&R.

Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter. I only dabble. 

Summer Before Second Year - Part 1

Harry lay down on his bed sinking his head into the coolness of his pillow, glad for the brief respite of heat from his skin. His return to the Dursley's from Hogwarts had been depressing, his uncle had immediately separated him with his link to the magical world by locking Hedwig's cage, and his trunk was locked up in the cupboard under the stairs. Ironic wasn't it! He may not sleep under there anymore but the main part of himself, the magical part was.

Since that day his uncle had made sure to leave him countless lists of chores to do around the house and he had to make sure they were done properly. That was during the daytime, when his relatives were awake.

Harry smiled to himself as he pulled his potions homework towards himself, carefully making sure not to disturb the still wet ink, Snape did not like untidy work. His uncle may have thought that he wouldn't be able to 'spread his freakishness around the house' with his stuff under the stairs, but what he didn't know was that he was quickly able to pick the lock. The first night after they were all sleep he had gotten all his books and homework, he had then hid them under the floorboards in his room. He had silently thanked Fred and George for their instruction, shuddering as he thought about what Snape would have done to him if he hadn't done it, probably use him as potions ingredients!

Harry quickly finished reading through his potions homework, before putting it down, pleased that he had put in the correct information. He rolled over onto his side, his eyes alighting on a box that sat on his desk. This box had made the summer bearable, but had given him more questions than answers.

The box had been there since he had gotten back. He had immediately asked his aunt Petunia what it was. She had sniffed and had an indignant look on her face, as if he had just asked her an inappropriate question. To his surprise his aunt had actually answered his question.

"It's some of your … mums … stuff. You're at, that school now, I don't like all that freakish stuff but I made a promise, to make sure you received it after you got back from your first year. I can finally get rid of it, it's been cluttering up the attic all these years." She had turned to walk away before turning back around. "I know what's in the box and I don't want you questioning me about any of it. You and your freaky kind have no part in my life," she had finished before walking down the stairs. Harry had stared at her as she retreated, that was probably the longest conversation she had ever had with him.

He had not opened the box straight away, nervous about what he would find. He was worried, but excited too. The idea that he might find out more about his parents had been wonderful. When he finally opened the box he had taken his time. It contained lots of letters, correspondence between his mum and aunt petunia. He took them all out sorting them by date. He had then started to read them.

_Dear Tuney_

_How are things going at home? Are mum and dad ok? What about you? How are things going at school?_

_Things have been amazing here! The castle is huge, and the lessons are really interesting. Some of the professors are really strict, like Professor McGonagall. She's the deputy head and my head of house, she also teaches transfiguration. That's when your change one thing into another. Like the other day we were changing a match into a needle._

_I got into Gryffindor house but Severus was put into Slytherin, were still friends though, he's thrilled to be here as well he was really nervous about the sorting. Then this stupid idiot Potter, thinks he all high and mighty and the best thing since sliced bread, calls Severus stupid names. I yelled at him that his real name was Severus Snape and he was my friend. He was such a jerk, that Sirius Black guy was just as bad, he was just laughing along. _

_Anyway I hope things are good at home Tuney. I'll see you at Christmas!_

_Love Lily x _

A lot of his mum's letters were like this, complaining about his father and his gang of friends who called themselves the Marauders, going on about how amazing the school was and what she was learning. The letters had decreased over the years that she spent at Hogwarts, she had slowly been growing more distant from her sister. She had also ended her friendship with Snape in fifth year after he had called her a Mudblood, a disgusting word to describe a muggle born. He had been quite amazed that his potions professor was friends with his mum when they were in school together, he supposed that was why Snape was so evil towards him. He probably hated the fact that she had ended their friendship, and then started hanging out the Marauders.

He had been quite worried reading the letters from his mother. She had always gone on about how much she hated James Potter, that he was so stuck up, such a prat. That he was annoying for trying to impress her with pranks and quidditch. Harry wondered how his parents ever got together, it was clear from the letters that she loathed his father as much as he loathed Malfoy. But then he found a letter from his mother's 7th year.

_Dear Tuney_

_How are you? How are the wedding preparations going?_

_I really wish you would answer my letters. After Mum and Dad died in that car crash were the only ones left! I can't believe you don't want to talk to me. I still love you Tuney, you're my only family left. I would hate for us to be torn apart!_

_By the way you were right, I believe I owe you £20. You always said that I spoke too often of James, that I did actually like him. It took me this long to figure out that I do like him, he's grown up a lot since first year, and he's actually the head boy with me. He's so great with the younger years, he hates it when the Slytherin's attack the other students. I finally said yes to him, were going to Hogsmead on a date on Halloween. Embarrassingly we found out that there was a betting pool in the Gryffindor common room about when we would get together. I think they said it was started in 5__th__year. Guess a lot of people saw it coming, especially Sirius. I told him he must have seer blood in him, he just laughed at me. _

_Thank you for the invitation to the wedding, the invites are very beautiful. I am very upset that you don't want you own sister for a bridesmaid, I always thought we agreed we would be each other's bridesmaids at the weddings. I will most likely be bringing James with me as my date for the wedding, I'll make sure he behaves. See you at Christmas._

_Lily x _

He was glad to see that his father had finally grown up enough for his mother to fall in love with him, he had obviously been a bit of a prat for six years. His mother had not been impressed with any of his antics. From what he could tell his mother had been very intelligent and loved her schoolwork and reading books. The letters to his aunt had dwindled down to two after his mum had left school.

_Dear Petunia_

_I can't believe you didn't even have the nerve to come to my wedding! You didn't want to see your younger sister get married. How could you be so horrible? I have always loved you, you're my older sister and I know that me going to Hogwarts was difficult for you, but do you have to be so condescending about it? I had no control over my magic, I had to go to learn to control it. Now you hardly ever speak to me, after mum and dad died you just cut me away. James was the one that comforted me when they died, we weren't even going out then, but he still did it. At first I didn't know why, but it was because he couldn't stand to see me so upset and alone. I know that now because he recently lost his parents, just before the wedding. Death eaters got to them. I've never seen him so lost. So I returned the favour, made him remember the good things about his parents. I know that Sirius was very close to them too, they took him in after his family kicked him out. He's a mess at the moment but Remus is trying to help him. _

_Please don't cut me off Tuney, in these times family is the most important, I don't want us to lose that!_

_Lily x _

The next letter was the final one from his mum.

_Dear Tuney_

_I have a lot to say and not much time to say it. I know we have grown apart over the years but I have never stopped loving you, you are family. It's in our blood. _

_There are some bad things going on in the world at the moment. You've probably seen them on the news. There's an evil wizard called Voldemort who is trying to take over the world. He's killed so many people Tuney. I'm with this group, were all trying to stop him. He's so powerful, everyone is scared of him, they call him you know who._

_We were visited by professor Dumbledore and he told us that Voldemort may be after us. That he wants to kill my son, Harry. I will not let this happen, I love my son so much, he deserves a life free from this nightmare we are living in now. I don't care what happens I will protect my son with my life. I need you to promise that if anything happens to us, that if his Godfather is not around, if something happens please will you look after him. He's just a baby. I know we don't really get on but he's family, and family stick together. I know this is asking a lot but please. I'm begging you to agree. _

_I love you _

_Lily x _

Harry had looked at those three words, gently touching them with his fingers. Nobody had ever told them that they loved him. He could feel the tears beginning to roll down his cheeks, so much had been taken from him that night. He had lost the only people who had ever loved him, and he been stuck in this house, to protect him from Voldemort's followers. It had taken him three days to recover from his findings. He had been so shocked and upset by his findings that he had done all his chores mechanically the days following.

Harry shook his head bringing himself back to the present. Most of the letters had been opened by his aunt which surprised him. She never spoke of her sister, he assumed she really hated her. He rolled onto his back staring at the ceiling. The letters had really opened his eyes to his parent's lives. They had friends, they had days like he did. There were things which he did which he could connect to his parents. His mother loved to read and so did he. Then there was his father. He was an excellent quidditch player, and according to his mum ruffled his hair a lot. Harry had laughed a lot at that. He always ruffled his hair, trying to get it into a state of some sort of tidiness, it never worked though. He knew that even though they were dead, they lived on in him.

He had been so caught up in the contents of the box and homework, which he had only begun to realise that he hadn't had any post from Ron or Hermione. He was tempted to let Hedwig go, she was feeling restless being stuck in a cage, but he didn't want to face his uncles wrath if he were to ever find out.

Once again he sighed. Tomorrow was his birthday but he was perfectly sure that no one would remember it. The Dursley's had the Mason's coming over for dinner, some big deal that his uncle was looking to sign. He placed his glasses on his bedside table and rolled into bed.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	7. Chapter 7

It's that time of the week again, Tuesday! So here is the next chapter for all you lovely people. Sorry that there's not as much excitement in this chapter, I promise the next one will be much better, after all its Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets! looking forward to it? There are definitely some changes occurring. Please read and review, your opinions mean a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter - If I did I would be rich, and that I am definitely not.

Summer Before 2nd Year – Part 2

Harry couldn't believe his luck. He was away from the Dursley's, a whole month before he had expected to escape. The flight in the Ford Anglia had been rather exciting, still rushed with adrenaline from his escape, the wrath of Mrs Weasley though was another matter. She could be downright scary when she needed to be, of course not to him thankfully.

At the moment he was sitting next to the pond, legs dangling over the jetty, his toes brushing the cool top water. His thoughts, for not the first time since his arrival at the burrow turned toward the mysterious appearance of Dobby, and his desire to stop bad things happening to him. At first his thoughts had been angry, that he had almost ruined the only good part of his life, but then he began to feel sorry for the little elf. It was obvious that his living conditions were despicable, I mean look at the state of the pillowcase he was wearing. He was living somewhere where he obviously wasn't being treated right, and the family that he works for must be an evil wizarding family, they had some sort of plan for Hogwarts this year. He had discussed his trail of thoughts with Ron but he had immediately waved the warning from Dobby, saying that someone was obviously pranking him. Harry wasn't so sure. He promised himself to keep an eye out for anything odd going on at school.

His thoughts then turned to the youngest Weasley. She was an enigma to him. He wanted to get to know her, but she always blushed and quickly walked away when he tried to talk to her. It didn't help that Ron refused to hang around his little sister, always shooing her away when Harry finally thought he had managed to hold her down. The only time he had managed to talk to her was when he caught her playing a prank on the twins, promising to keep his mouth shut if he could help out. This had caused her to giggle, not knowing that he occasionally pulled pranks. Without her brothers around Ginny was much calmer. He assumed this was because they always teased her about the crush she had on him. Yes, he knew about the crush she had on him, he wasn't that naïve, after all putting one's elbow in the butter was a dead giveaway. He thought it was quite sweet, but it made talking to her harder. He really wanted her to know the real Harry, not the story book Harry, (yes there had been fiction stories about him released) or the boy-who-lived. He may have stopped Voldemort twice but he was still just a normal guy. A part of him hoped that Ginny would be able to see that.

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They were late. Both Harry and Ron looked at each other fearfully. Things couldn't get worse, Harry thought. First, everyone had been rushing around, packing trunks. Then when they had finally got on the road they had to go back several times. Now they couldn't even get through the barrier to platform 9 ¾.

"Come on Ron, let's go stand by the car." Ron's eyes lit up at the mention of the car.

"The car! We can take the car to Hogwarts!" said Ron excitedly. Harry's mouth dropped open in shock. Was Ron seriously considering this? He shook his head,

"Not a chance Ron. If someone saw us we would be breaking the secrecy statute. We might get expelled. Then if the ministry find out about the modifications your dads done to the car they could fine or fire him." At this Ron's enthusiasm dimmed, his face turning slightly green as he thought about the kind of trouble he could have caused his dad.

"Your right Harry, I don't want Dad to get in trouble because of us, and I really don't want to give Snape the chance to expel us, I can just see the look on Malfoys face." Harry nodded.

"Come on, once we get back to the car I'll send Hedwig to McGonagall, she'll know what to do." Ron nodded and followed Harry back to the car. He quickly undid his trunk and pulled out a piece of parchment and quill, writing a short note telling of their situation. He opened Hedwig's cage and attached the note to her leg. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, luckily nobody was. "Take this to McGonagall. We need her help. Fly fast and be safe." She gave him an affectionate nip on his finger before spreading her wings, quickly disappearing into the sky. He motioned his head towards Ron. "I have some Muggle money left over from last year, I'm going to grab us something to eat and drink whilst we wait for help to come. Stay by the car, just in case your parents turn up." Ron nodded.

Harry entered the shop, quickly looking for the sandwich counter. He looked through the selection, choosing two ham and cheese sandwiches and two cokes. He figured that would keep them satisfied for now, hopefully Ron could hold out until the feast, he knew exactly how hungry his friend could get! He hoped McGonagall would get there before they had reached that point though. He paid the man at the counter with the muggle money and then made his way back to the car where Ron was still standing. He could tell from Ron's stance that his best friend was already bored. He threw one of the sandwiches at his head causing Ron to look up, quickly catching it and grinning.

"Thanks mate," quickly opening the package and taking a big bite. His face fell in to a content smile. The best way to his friend was definitely through his stomach. He looked at the cans of coke Harry was holding. "What's that?" Harry grinned.

"This Ron is a muggle fizzy drink that is quite popular. It's called coke." He opened his can and took a mouthful of the cold drink. "Try it, it's nice," he urged his friend. Ron nodded and reached out his hand to take the can from him. Harry smiled as he handed Ron the can, waiting for the inevitable to happen. Ron pulled the metal ring like he had seen Harry do… and got a face full of brown fizzy liquid. Harry laughed, Ron scowling at him as he wiped his face. "Sorry Ron, I couldn't resist." He heard Ron mutter something under his breath, something that sounded very much like 'never should have introduced him to the twins!' Harry smirked as Ron continued to wipe his face, Ron didn't know how right he was. Last year he was too busy for any decent pranks, maybe this year he would get lucky. He then watched as Ron cautiously took a small sip of the drink, his face then breaking into a smile.

"This stuff is really nice, very fizzy though. I wonder how the muggles make it fizzy, it's amazing what they can do without magic." Harry laughed. Ron sounded exactly like his dad!

Two hours passed and the boys passed the time by quizzing each other on quidditch facts from quidditch through the ages, the only book that Ron had ever actually read.

"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley." Both boys turned around to see their head of house standing behind them, a small smile upon her lips.

"Professor. You have no idea how happy we are to see you," Harry started. Ron nodded.

"Yes, your owl seemed to think the same. I believe she was quite exhausted after the trip, Hagrid took her to the owlery for a good rest." Harry sighed in relief, glad that Hedwig had got to Hogwarts safely. He watched the professor discreetly banish both of their trunks, along with Hedwig's cage. She then brought out a small china cup that had been in her pocket. Harry watched as she silently performed a spell around them, a muggle repellent charm. He had read about them but never seen one in affect. If a muggle came near one they would immediately forget what they had seen and remember an important engagement they needed to get to.

"This cup is a port key that was created by the headmaster for us to use. It will take us to Professor Dumbledore's office. All you need to do is touch it." Both he and Ron placed a finger of the cup. He saw the professor tap the cup with her wand causing the cup to glow blue. He felt a tug on his naval before being wrenched from the place where they were standing. Before he was ready the floor came up to meet him. They had arrived at Hogwarts.


	8. Chapter 8

So it's that time of the week again. Update day. Before I go on I will remind you that this story is AU. Not everything that happens will happen as you know it. I know that some people don't like it when the original stories are screwed with, well in that case I say go read somewhere else. I work very hard on this story, each week bringing about new chapters. I research, edit and edit again to make sure all the information I have is correct, and then to make the characters be like themselves. Ok so rant over. We have over 5000 reads ! Makes me very happy . 

KuKia - thanks for the review. Letting Harry get to know Ginny sooner is imperative to this story so I am glad you like - thanks for your review. The rational route is for a smarter Harry, after all he doesn't want to risk getting expelled from the only home he has ever known.

thatperfectsomeone - Thanks for reviewing ! Yes some things have been changing. some small, some big. Read on to see how it effects the story line.

Drollittle - Thanks for the review. Ron's thoughts are going to be right at the end of this story, and hopefully his jealousy will be dealt with. Please Read on!

oracle987 - As I have written pretty much at the start, this story is AU! This means things that happened in the books may not happen in this story. It does stick quite well to the books in the events that happen each year but the squishy bits in the middle have all been messed around and changed. There will be many journeys throughout the story, it's just that this one was not needed. I mean, does Harry really want to risk expulsion from the only place he has ever called home, go back to the Dursley's for the rest of his life?

sbmcneil - Thanks for your review. Well from what I have picked from scouring the internet for this information, it is assumed that they thought that Ron and Harry had already gotten on the train, they were in a rush after all. Then when they couldn't get back through the gate Mrs Weasley probably apparated back to the Burrow, whilst Mr Weasley apparated to work, planning on picking up the car after work.

Lilykees - thanks for the review. Here's the next chapter for you . 

Thanks for all the reviews, I love to read your thoughts! Please review more!

Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter in any shape or form. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Part 1

Harry looked around in awe. So this was Dumbledore's office. Well, he thought, it definitely matched with the eccentric man he had come to know. It was a circular room with many portraits of sleeping wizards on the wall, he assumed they were past headmasters. Then there were the many small strange instruments littering the desk and cupboards, some were puffing like a little steam train. Then, there was a beautiful bird sat on a perch. Harry rubbed his eyes. It couldn't be a phoenix, they were really rare. This phoenix was very majestic, feathers primped to perfection in red and gold colours. He heard a small cough and looked up to see the headmaster peering over his half-moon spectacles, his bright blue eyes sparkling with mirth.  
"I do hope you enjoyed examining my office Harry." He blushed, quickly picked himself up from off the floo, pulling Ron up with him. He brushed himself down before turning to the two professors. "I must admit, it's getting a bit cluttered in my old age. Fawkes believes that I should get rid of all of them, however I feel like I don't want to part with any of them." Harry smiled and saw Ron give him an odd look.  
"I'm sorry if we caused any problems professors but we didn't really know what to do..." Dumbledore put up his hand stopping Harry mid-sentence.  
"You did the correct thing Harry. I would award points, but alas the term has not officially started. I'm sure that if you made your way to the common room, you may find a late lunch waiting for you, courtesy of the Hogwarts house elves." Harry laughed as he saw Ron's face light up at the mention of food.  
"Thank you professors. I should probably get Ron to the common room before he faints from hunger." Ron scoffed. "It was nice to meet Fawkes sir. He is truly magnificent." Dumbledore nodded.  
"He is, but we don't tell him very often. He tends to get a big head otherwise. I'll tell you the story if our meeting in the future if you would like?" Harry nodded.  
"I would like that very much sir. See you at the feast." He turned to leave following Ron out of the door, before quickly turning back around. "What's the password?" he asked sheepishly. McGonagall smiled.  
"It's Wattlebird."  
"Thank you Professor."

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Harry sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. It was getting quite late and he was the only person left in the deserted common room. It had been nearly two months since the return to Hogwarts. Tomorrow was Halloween and already the homework was piling up, although in Harry's case he'd already finished it all. He smiled. Hermione would probably die of shock if she knew he had actually done his homework. The thing about Hermione was that she was always pestering him to let her proof read it before he handed it in. He had always denied her, she was more than welcome to look at Ron's but he wanted his work to be his own.  
His mind went over the lessons of the first half of the term. He was pleased with his performance. He made sure never to get the spell right first time, leaving that to Hermione who seemed to love basking in the glow of a teacher's word of approval. In secret he could do most spells up to fourth year, he'd been reading ahead, especially in DADA. The first lesson with Lockhart had been a fiasco. He'd let loose a cage of Cornish pixies into the classroom, not knowing how to control them. Hermione had finally stopped them with a freezing charm, but the damage was already done. Ron's wand had been in his hand when the pixies had dropped Neville right on top of him. It hadn't completely split in two, but it was broken enough that he had trouble with all his spells. Neville had apologised profoundly for what had happened. There lessons from then on had been dead boring. All he did was recite passages from his books, which by the way were entirely works of fiction. The amount of continuity errors was unheard of, there was even a time when he was in two different places at the same time. How no one had noticed he wasn't sure, probably because they were all taken in by his fame and charming smile. So because Lockhart wasn't teaching him anything he had upped his reading of DADA materials. He had found himself enjoying it.  
His thoughts turned to Ginny. Happily she had been sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of the Weasley's, however Harry had noticed that she wasn't entirely like herself.

_Flashback_

_The library was quiet just as Harry liked it. Then again if it wasn't, a scary Madame Pince would chuck you out!  
_ _He had managed to escape from Ron and Hermione, who had been bickering as usual, by saying he was going for a walk before curfew. In actuality he had to return some books and pick up some new ones._  
_He was sitting at his usual desk in the back of the library, hidden behind the many shelves of books that the library held. The desk gave him a spot of pure privacy, no one ever came back here, and it could not be seen from the main part of the library. He glanced at his watch and quickly closed the book he was reading. It was coming close to curfew. He slung his bag over his shoulder, quickly checking behind him that he had left nothing behind, before exiting his hiding place. As he was reaching the exit he saw a head of Weasley red hair at one of the desks. She was writing furiously into a little black book, with a kind of dreamy look on her face.  
_ _"__Ginny?" She looked up and upon seeing who it was who had called her blushed and quickly closed the book she had been writing in.  
_ _"__Hi Harry," she said in a small voice as she carefully packed her book in her bag. Harry smiled._  
_"__It's near curfew. Would the lady allow a poor peasant to escort her back to her abode?" he asked, keeping his face as straight as possible. The sound of her laughter filled the air of the library.  
_ _"__Me a Lady? My mother wishes." She laughed again. "You're not half bad Potter." Harry grinned._  
_"__I aim to please. I do believe that is 2-nil to me." Ginny grinned._  
_"__Not for long mister, I bet the twins 2 galleons if I win this." Harry grimaced._  
_"__You let the twins bet on us? That's never a good sign." Ginny nodded smiling._  
_"__Oh it is when you're their little sister! I am not going to lose, do you know how cold the black lake is? It's freezing all through the year!" Harry laughed at the expression of pure horror on her face.  
_ _"__You're the one that suggested it. I was going to say you had to eat one of Hagrid's rock cakes. There like stones them things." Ginny nodded.  
_ _"__Well in any case I'm not losing. I have the Weasley reputation to uphold." Harry smirked._  
_"__What reputation? The smallest red head in the school?" Ginny wacked the back of his head with her hand.  
_ _"__It's an expression you idiot. You know I will make you laugh, after all I'm related to the twins," she grinned cheekily at Harry. Harry smiled and nodded glad that she was smiling again. This was more like the Ginny he had come to know at the Burrow. He had finally managed to get her past her nervousness around him. Once that had happened they had spent the little time remaining trying to prank each other. Yet since the events at Flourish and Blotts she had again become quiet and withdrawn. He had seen her around school, but every time he saw her she headed off in a different direction. Maybe she was having trouble being away from home. It was something he never experienced as he already felt like he was home. _ _He looked up again to see Ginny looking at him as they walked along the corridor to the main staircase.  
__"You look miles away there Harry." He smiled._  
_"__Just thinking. This is the first time you've spoken to me since we got here. I thought maybe you didn't want to be my friend anymore." Ginny looked up at him and sighed._  
_"__I'm sorry Harry, I guess I've been so busy trying to assimilate that I haven't really thought about it." Harry nodded. He opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by a familiar drawl.  
_ _"__Well well well, look at what we found boys. A potty and a female weasel," Malfoy sneered. Harry groaned. Did Malfoy always have to cause a confrontation, he was really not in the mood to deal with him right now._  
_"__Get lost Malfoy."_  
_"__I think we need to teach Potter and the blood traitor a lesson."_  
_"__I'd like to see you try Malfoy," he threw back.  
__ He drew out his wand keeping an eye on Ginny who had been slowly backing away. She'd never been in a duel before and if Lockhart continued teaching like he was, she never would.  
_ _"__Tarentallegra," Malfoy shouted. Harry pulled Ginny behind him before shouting,_  
_"__Protego." Malfoy's spell hid the blue shield and bounced back, hitting Goyle. Harry quickly went to send the body bind spell when Professor McGonagall appeared.  
_ _"__What do you two think you are doing?" she yelled. All five of them had quickly looked up at her, stopping the spells that had been on their lips. "You know the rules! No duelling in the corridor. I'm disappointed in you Mr Potter, and don't think you've been forgotten Mr Malfoy. Your head of house will be informed. Now twenty points from each of you and you will both have detention. You'll receive a note when I have arranged them." Both boys nodded, both had looks of loathing on their face. "Now get back to your common rooms, it's almost curfew." Both he and Ginny had scarpered before getting into more trouble with their head of house. As soon as they got to the common room they had both fell about laughing.  
_ _"__Thanks Harry." Harry grinned._  
_"__No problem, Malfoys a jerk, it's about time he got taught a lesson." Ginny nodded her head, yawning. She headed off on up to bed whilst he went to explain to Ron and Hermione._

Present

He smiled, it had felt good to get back at Malfoy but the detention he had received had been worse than he had ever imagined. Answering Lockhart's fan mail. It might possibly have been the worst detention he had ever received, it was up there with finding Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. He couldn't stand the guy. He was bloody awful. All he ever thought about was himself. Maybe he should marry himself. Then there had been that strange voice. Lockhart had claimed not to have heard it, so how could he? Maybe he was finally going mad. Ron's explanation had been that he was tired, but he wasn't so sure. He supposed it was a good thing that he hadn't heard it since then though.

He sighed and thought about the next day. Halloween. His not so favourite part of the year. As a child living with the Dursley's he had always dreamed about going trick or treating, but since finding out his parents had been murdered on that day had taken all the fun out of it. He was actually glad that he wasn't going to the feast tomorrow, they would all be happy and smiling whilst all he wanted to do was curl up in bed with his photo album. No instead he was going to Nick's death day party, a favour to Nick for helping to get him out of trouble with Filch. Still tomorrow would be interesting.


End file.
